Drip pan for carburetors



Jan. 13, 1931. E. T. LARKIN,

DRIP PAN FOR CARBURETORS Filec. Nov. 22, 1929 A 770 reA/E 49.

Patented .lan.'13, 1931 r I Q UNITED STATES PATENT QF' -Efg- E wooD rrAaKIN, or BurF Lo, NEW YORK, .ASSIGNOR 'ro oHAnLEsh. career, or i I BUFFALO,'NEW Your v 1 mm: r m roa CARZBURETORS Application. filed member 22; 1929;. serial No. 409,119.

This ill-"61.1mm relates t6 carburetorsfrror vided with pans for collecting the dripv or All carburetors used to vaporize gasoline or other liquid fuel foruse in internal combustion engines have a tendency to leak slightly, and in. the event of the-engine rotatingin the reverse direction when stopping,

fuel is Sometimes blown out at the carburetor 10 air inlet passage. Both of these causes provide a bad fire hazard and possibility of engine room explosions, if the engine is installed in a confined space with inadequate Ventilation as in marine installations.

Attempts have heretofore been -made to remedy this fire and explosion hazard by installing an open pan under the carburetor,

which pan will collect this seepage. A' pan ofthis kind, however, has the disadvantage I of exposing a relatively large surface of the fuel toth-e atmosphere, which causes the gasoline to become readily evaporated so that the fire hazard and possibility of explosionsare not materially reduced by the provision of a pan of this kind. i

- The objects of this invention are to provide a drip pan for carburetors which is'formed so that they upper edges of the pan Yconform closely to the contour of the carburetor, these edges being formed so that fuel flowing downwardly on the walls of the carburetor'will enter the pan; also to provide a drip panof this I kind in which the carburetor itself acts as a cover or closure for the pan-so that the evapo- 5 ration offuel from the pan is materially retarded; also to provide a construction of this kind by means of which fuel collectedin the pan can be quickly disposed of also to pro- 0 .vide a carburetor with me'anspermitting excess gasoline from the suction or mixing passage of the carburetor to, be discharged into the drip pan, and thus prevent the blowing of this excess fuel through the air opening of the carburetor, in casethe engine turns in the reverse direction on sto m also to 7 PP e,

' improve the constructionof devices of this kind in other respects hereinafter specified. In the accompanying drawings: r f

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a: carburetor and a. driptpan embodying .thisinventiom'. 3 I leakage of liquid .fuel from the carburetors.

Fig. 2 is-a transverse sectional elevation thereof on l ne 2+2, of Fig.1; v j

Fig. 3 1s a fragmentary transverse-sectional v elevation showing a slightly modified ar- 1 rangement for returning fuel from the drip pan to the carburetor. V o v The carburetor shown in the accompany} ing drawingsis merely illustrative of how my invention may be applied to a carburetor and it is not intended to restrict this invention to use in connection with the particular carburetor shown-,since it will beobvious that the invention may be employed in' connection with carburetors of other constructions.

resents the usual. float chamber having a float a therein which controls afuel valve In in the usual manner to maintaina-substantially uni.- form quantity of fuel within the flat cham- In the particular carburetor shown, A repber A. B representslthe fuel supply'pipe.

C-is the air intake passage of the carburetor, the air receiving end of which .is supplied with a combined air cleaner, and flame arrester D which maybe of any suitable or well known construction.v This air. intake passageC terminates in a discharge passage E controlled by a throttle valve 6 and which is connected in the,.usual manner to the intake pipe or manifold of an engine, (not shown). The fuel inliquid formis carried to the lower.- portion of the discharge passageE by means of a duct or tube F,-whi'ch is connected near j its lower end-with the fuel supply inthe'float .chamilper by means ofan' aperture or passage. 1]

In order to catch, any fuelxwhich'might escape from the carburetoror from any of the connections leading to'the carburetor, a drip pan G is provided which is so formed as to enclose the lower: portion of the car.-

buretor This drip pan includes a body por tion 10, which is formed to-slope fro nthe outerportions thereof downwardly, to a sump or depressed part 11. The upper, edges. of

the body portion 10 terminatejin fianges 12.. which extend inwardly and downwardly, the V inner edges 13 of thefianges sloping downwardly and arepreferably arranged to either contact with or approach closely to the outer wall of the carburetor.

The'drip pan D may be secured to the carburetorin any sultable or desired manner, and in the construction shown for this purpose, attaching lugs 15 are provided on the drip pan, for example, on the inwardly exmanner, for example, by means of-serews l-G.

By means of this connection with the car buretor, a drip pan can be easily and quickly removed, when desired, but other means for securing the drip pan-to thelcarburetor-may i- 1 quently happens that, just before coming to be employed, if desired. p a v p a As a result of the construction described,

all gasoline. or other fuel escaping fronrthe carburetor by leakagelwill be collected-in the drip pan D anddrained to the sump :11 thereof. Any fuel which runs down along the side walls of the carburetor an'dcontacts'with thefia'nges 12 willbe' guidedtinto thejdrip pan because of the downward and inward in'clina tion of the flanges 12, andthe end'portion 13 thereof. Gasoline and most other motor fuels will readily pass between the, inner edge 13 and the wall of the carburetor," even if these two parts are'in contact, sincetthe fuel will readily pass through small crevices or gaps. Most offthe leaks'occur insuch a'manner that the-fuel will tend to flowalong the wallstof the carburetor, and lcon sequently a pan of greatersize relatively to the size of the ear buretor than that shownis seldom necessary, but, if desired, the pan can be enlarged by increasing the width of'the filange,12,' forthe carburetor walls.

purpose of catching drip from. connections with the carburetorwh'ich may not follow the The sump ll in the drip pan is'..pre fe rably covered by. means of screen 'or 'strain er 17, which strains the fuel entering'the sump excludes foreign matter. In order to, dispose of the fuel entering the sump,a suction pipe or duct connecting with the suctionpassa geiE of the carburetor or the intake ma'nifold or pipe of the engine is providedy In the. particular constructionshown injFigsl l andfQ, a pipe 'H is provided for. thispu'rposewhich extends into close proximitywiththe bottom of thesump 11. "The upper end of this tube terminates near the discharge end of the fuel supply pipeaor ductF, and the upper end 20 of this tube is preferably tapered orrestricted so as to limit the quantity of or fuel admitted through this passage by the suction produced inthe passage of the car} 7 bureton. This tube-will, consequently, draw any fuel collecting in the sump upwardly into the suction passage E of the carburetorwhere the fuel will be vaporized by contactwith the air rushing-through this tube. 1

In the modified construction shown in 3, a suction pipe'Hv is provided, which extends from the sump 11 in the drippan G I I'n' carbiir 1,789,005 t V t of the tube is subjected to the suction of the intake passage E, and also draws fuel from thesumpand discharges it to the'intake passageE. Any other means for d'rawing fuel from the sump and discharging it to the engine intake may be provided. I t

I "act-s 'asn'ow inadeflt frequency happens that an excess of liquid fuel is fed to the suction passage E and collects in the bottom of the air intake chamber of the carburetorrz; then the engine is stopped, it frein the "fuel in the air chamberin the l'ca'r buretor-belng blown out through the air in j takef, This, of course; forms 'a dangerous fire hazard, and-in order to prevent this from occurring I provide means for drainingany fuel thatma-y have collccted'in the air chant ber lnt'o the drip pan G This may be done by any suitable or'desired-means for ex:

ample, by providing a drain plug K, one end of which is screwedinto a threaded hole in the lowerfwall of the air chamber or passage of the carburetor, and which isfilled withimetal wool 22 or other means for'arrese ing flame Thelower end of the plug being provided withan opening 23, through which the fuel discharges into the drip pan after it has passed throughthe'metal wool or other flame retarding meansf' By this arrangement, any'fuel in thebottom of the air intake passage will be quickly and eiiiciently drained into the sump 11 At certaintimes, it may be possible. that so'much fuel drains into the drip pan D as to tend to overflow this drip pan before the fuel can be withdrawn through the restricted dischargepipe H, and in order to prevent the drip pan from 1 overflowing, a discharge pipe 25, -may be provided, which connects with the drip pan at an elevation considerablyabovethe sump 11 and above the strainer 17; This overflow pipe 25 may lead to any convenient place orreceptacle (not shown), such,.for example as a storage tank or vessel toreceivejthis excess fuel, or, in the case of marineinstallations, this plpe may.

lead overboard;

The ldrip panshown hasfthe advantages that in the firstplace, it is attached directly to the carburetor itself, so that it'is always 1n position torecelve any drip or seepage from'th'e carburetor, even n extreme cases. of

rolling of a'boat, or in other unusual posithe carburetor, the bottoin -wall of the carburetor forms a cover or closure for thetop ofthe drip pan, so that evaporation is materially reduced. By providing a suction connection with the drip pan for withdrawing fuel from the drip pan, there will be a continual inward flow of air at the p-oints'of contact between the inner edges of the flanges 12 of the drip pan and the wall of the carburetor, which inflow of air into the drip pan will prevent any evaporated fuel from passing out of the drip pan while the engine is running; By the use of the drip pan in connection. with the overflow arrangement.

of the air intake pipe of the carburetor, this air intake passage is kept atall'times free from liquid fuel, so that in case of rotating or partial rotation of the engine in a reverse direction no liquid fuel will be blown through the air intake opening of the carburetor. The flanges 12 of the drip pan, in addition to the functions described, also act as splash guards when the engine and carburetor are edges of the drip pan are provided with flanges extending inwardly into close proximity to the wall of'the carburetor.

3. A carburetor drip pan in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that the upper edges of the drip pan have flanges extending inwardly and downwardly into close proxiimity to the wall of the carburetor to guide fuel contacting with these'flanges into said drip pan.

4. A. drip pan for a carburetor, including a body portion terminating in a sump, in \vardly extending flanges at the upper edge of said body portion extending toward the walls of said carburetor, said flanges sloping downwardly toward the carburetor wallto guide liquid fuel contacting with the flanges into said drip pan, 'ineans secured to said drip pan for releasably mounting said drip pan on said carburetor, whereby the lower portion of the carburetor forms a cover for the drip pan, and means for withdrawing fuel from said sump.

5. The combinationof a carburetor having at' an elevation above said sumpto remove fuel from said drip pan when'an excessive quantity of fuel lenters said drip pan;

' 6. The combination of acarburetor having a suction passage and an air intake passage, a drip pan therefor, a tube connectingsald suction passagewith said drip pan toremove fuel from said drippan and to discharge the same to said suction passage, andmeans for draining liquid fuel collecting in said air. J intake passage into said drip pan.

7. The combinationof a carburetor-having I asuct on passage and an a1r intake passage, a

drip pan therefor, a tube connecting said suction passage with said drip panto remove fuel from said drip pan and to discharge the same to said suction.passage, a drain hole in I the lower end of said air intake passagethrough which liquid'fuel collecting in said air intake passage may pass into said drip pan, and-flame arresting means of finely divided metal through which liquid fuel must pass from said hole into said drip pan.-

-8. The combination of a carburetor having 1 a suction passage and an air intake passage, a drip pan therefor, a tube connecting-said suction passage with said drip pan to remove fuel from said drip pan and to discharge the same to said suction passage, and a drain plug arranged in the lower wall of said air intake passage and having a passage there-- through through which liquid fuel may pass from the lower end of said air intake passage to said drip pan, and flame arresting means arranged in said plug and through which the liquid fuel must pass.

9; A drip, pan for a carburetor formed to be attached to the carburetor below the same to receive any liquid dripping from the car buretor, the carburetor cooperating with the drip pan to form "a closure therefor to prevent rapid evaporation-of fuel in the drip 1 pan.

10. A drip pan for a carburetor formed to be attached tothecarburetor below the same to receive any liquid dripping from the carburetor, the carburetor cooperating with the drip pan to form aclosuretherefor to prevent rapid evaporation of fuel. in the drip pan, means for withdrawing fuel from said drip pan into said carburetor, and means for draining into said drip pan fuel collecting in the air intake passage of the carburetor.

ELWOOD T. LARKIN.

a suction passage, a drip pan therefor, having a sumpprneans for securing said'drip pan to the carburetor, a duct extending from said suction passage to said sumpfor drawing' fuel from said sump to said carburetor, and

an overflow pipeconnected to. said drip fpan 

